The result brought out a new heaviness in Petty's voice, epecially in the opening track, "Room at the Top." The artist says he was trying to ape the plaintive singing style of his friend Carl Wilson (of the Beach Boys), who had just died. "It was my hopeless attempt to sound like Carl," Petty explains. "I'm just pleased that more voices keep showing up because if you've got to sing a whole album it's good to have different sounds on it."

Tom doesn’t sound like Carl in “Room at the Top”; he sounds like Tom, but it’s one of my favorite Heartbreakers tunes.

An aside, during the making of that album (Echo), Tom was struggling with a crippling heroin addiction, a fact that wasn’t revealed publicly until a few years ago in Warren Zaines’ Tom Petty biography — which I highly recommend if you’re a Tom Petty fan.

The result brought out a new heaviness in Petty's voice, epecially in the opening track, "Room at the Top." The artist says he was trying to ape the plaintive singing style of his friend Carl Wilson (of the Beach Boys), who had just died. "It was my hopeless attempt to sound like Carl," Petty explains. "I'm just pleased that more voices keep showing up because if you've got to sing a whole album it's good to have different sounds on it."

Tom doesn’t sound like Carl in “Room at the Top”; he sounds like Tom, but it’s one of my favorite Heartbreakers tunes.

An aside, during the making of that album (Echo), Tom was struggling with a crippling heroin addiction, a fact that wasn’t revealed publicly until a few years ago in Warren Zaines’ Tom Petty biography — which I highly recommend if you’re a Tom Petty fan.

I remember reading that Room at the Top was a tribute to Carl, but I didn't know he was trying to sound like Carl, which is not really possible since their voices are so distinctly different.

I remember when I heard that Carl did background vocals on Honey Bee, I ran out and bought a copy of Petty's CD. Remember how dissappointed I was when it was impossible to discern that Carl was even on it, his voice was completely buried in the mix.

I remember when I heard that Carl did background vocals on Honey Bee, I ran out and bought a copy of Petty's CD. Remember how dissappointed I was when it was impossible to discern that Carl was even on it, his voice was completely buried in the mix.

Yeah, it's hard to hear. This live performance (without Carl) gives an idea at what point to listen for him:

a diseased bunch of mo'fos if there ever was one… their beauty is so awesome that listening to them at their best is like being in some vast dream cathedral decorated with a thousand gleaming American pop culture icons.

To sum it up, they blew it, they blew it consistently, they continue to blow it, it is tragic and this pathological problem caused The Beach Boys' greatest music to be so underrated by the general public.

Tom talked a few years back about releasing a companion album to Wildflowers that would include songs that would have been on the originally envisioned two-disc version of Wildflowers. I wonder if Tom completed the project prior to his death and, if so, if Carl is on any of those tracks.

Yes, the project, called "Widflowers : All the Rest" was finished. And has been finished for at least two years. It was supposed to come out in 2016 after the release of "Mudcrutch 2"... and then nothing happened. Fans have been waiting. We were told it would come out after TP & the Heartbreaker's tour in 2017. Then we thought that Tom's death would encourage Warner to release it... but we're still waiting.

And we can hear Carl sing on "Hung Up and Overdue" from TP & the Heartbreakers' "She's the One" soundtrack, one of my favorite Tom Petty songs.

The comment section on youtube mentioned that George Harrison and Ringo Starr also played on "Hung up and overdue". There's definitely a guitar part that sounds like Harrison. But is it true?

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a diseased bunch of mo'fos if there ever was one… their beauty is so awesome that listening to them at their best is like being in some vast dream cathedral decorated with a thousand gleaming American pop culture icons.

To sum it up, they blew it, they blew it consistently, they continue to blow it, it is tragic and this pathological problem caused The Beach Boys' greatest music to be so underrated by the general public.

And we can hear Carl sing on "Hung Up and Overdue" from TP & the Heartbreakers' "She's the One" soundtrack, one of my favorite Tom Petty songs.

The comment section on youtube mentioned that George Harrison and Ringo Starr also played on "Hung up and overdue". There's definitely a guitar part that sounds like Harrison. But is it true?

Ringo plays drums on that song, but I don’t recall George being on it. The slide guitar was by Mike Campbell who can do an amazing imitation of George’s slide guitar sound.

Alright, thanks for the confirmation of Ringo's appearance.

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a diseased bunch of mo'fos if there ever was one… their beauty is so awesome that listening to them at their best is like being in some vast dream cathedral decorated with a thousand gleaming American pop culture icons.

To sum it up, they blew it, they blew it consistently, they continue to blow it, it is tragic and this pathological problem caused The Beach Boys' greatest music to be so underrated by the general public.